First experience with dust jamming a blast gate

[Thomas Wilson]

I am still getting used to my new central dust collection system. I have only collected about 1 1/2 barrels (35 gal per barrel). Anyway, I noticed the blastgate on the planer would not fully close. I have heard about dust jamming the slide so my thought was that didn’t take very long. I removed the gate and disassembled it. Sure enough about a tablespoon of dust fell out. It took about 15 minutes total to get back to work. I suppose I will get faster with practice.

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[Bill Dufour]

I made my gates so the shutter can slide all the way through, self clearing. A air compressor helps. I find more and more uses for my gun cleaning kit even though I do not own a gun.
Bill D

[glenn bradley]

You can also try rotating your gate so that the corners that jam are not facing down. I have cut the corners out of gates to help with this. They leak a bit but never jam.
Inkedblast gate anti clog marked.jpg
Self cleaning gates are the real answer.
BG-No-Shop (11).jpg

[Thomas Wilson]

You can also try rotating your gate so that the corners that jam are not facing down. I have cut the corners out of gates to help with this. They leak a bit but never jam.
Inkedblast gate anti clog marked.jpg
Self cleaning gates are the real answer.
BG-No-Shop (11).jpg

I considered placing the slide facing down (pull down to open) but it is awkward to operate that way. I think I may have operated the planer with the wrong gate open one time. Not doing that again would help.

I think my blast gates could use design improvements. In addition to the jamming, the thumbscrews are hard to access and turn.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Self cleaning gates are indeed a good answer. The cast alloy ones can be modified with an angle grinder so that the slot is open on both ends to allow the dust can escape from the closed position as well as the open position. You have to take care not to pull the gate all of the way out or create a new stop.

[Chris Parks]

Rocking blast gates fix all the problems, can't jam and with cords hanging down can be mounted very high

My NEW Unique Blast Gates (sawmillcreek.org)

Full plans can be found on the Australian WW forum

[Thomas Wilson]

Chris, that’s a creative design. I haven’t got enough room around my ductwork for them but I like the idea

[Chris Parks]

Chris, that’s a creative design. I haven’t got enough room around my ductwork for them but I like the idea

The beauty of this type of BG is it can be high and still usable via hanging cords. Blind ended BG's are a problem, Clearvue actually put leaks into the corners at the blind end to scavenge the dust at the blind end.

[Alan Lightstone]

Sorry to seem dumb here, but I've never encountered the topic of blocked blast gates. Now I don't know if my Nordfab gates are self-cleaning. What does the design of self cleaning gates look like compared to "ordinary" blast gates.

[steve swantee]

Thomas,

Simple solution is to clip both corners of your blast gates enough to expose the slide a bit...you can see the small square open gap on the corner of the gate below. This allows the gate to suck in a small amount of air through the hole, keeping the slide free of debris. I just carefully clipped them at an angle on my mitre saw. They shouldn't clog now, but if they do, you can just shove a stiff piece of wire into the holes to dislodge the dust and chips from the slide.

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[Ron Selzer]

Since I switched over to WoodPeckers FullThrottle Blast Gates that problem is gone. No more sliding blast gates for me
Ron

[Thomas Wilson]

Mine are Nordfab also. The slide channel of the blast gate can fill with sawdust preventing slide from closing. You are just lucky not to have encountered it.

Actually, in my case, I think the dust accumulated in the front of the slide channel because it was not open when the planer was running. When I opened the gate the next time, dust just fell into the groove. Lots of fixes for this. You may never have been so inattentive with dust collection gate alignment to have experienced this.

To those offering self-cleaning options, those are duly noted. I will revisit those if I cannot cure the problem with more attentiveness to gate alignment.

[Frank Pratt]

I use the Lee Valley self cleaning gates and they've never plugged up. But one improvement I wish for is a low friction hold feature so I don't have to fiddle with the thumb screw.

[Thomas Wilson]

I have Nordfab Quick Fit connections on my gates and tight constraints on size which limits alternative brands/design of gates. For now, I looking for things to reduce the problem with existing Nordfab blast gates.

Does anyone have experience on slides oriented in horizontal versus vertical planes for plugging? For gates in vertical plane, should the slide close in the up direction rather than horizontal or down?

[Alan Lightstone]

I have Nordfab Quick Fit connections on my gates and tight constraints on size which limits alternative brands/design of gates. For now, I looking for things to reduce the problem with existing Nordfab blast gates.

Does anyone have experience on slides oriented in horizontal versus vertical planes for plugging? For gates in vertical plane, should the slide close in the up direction rather than horizontal or down?

FWIW, Thomas, I have slides in both the vertical, horizontal, and 45 degree orientation on my Nordfabs, and no clogging. Also slides up, and slides down.

I'll take being lucky, I guess, but I don't see any difference the orientation makes in my setup. Perhaps my 5HP Oneida just overwhelms the design and sucks up the chips that might get clogged. Who knows?